British Conservative MP Malcolm Moss has attacked his country’s organisation Survival International for its campaign in support of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen in Botswana. Moss also promised to support Botswana to counter Survival’s "malicious propaganda", reports the Botswana government paper, the Daily News. Moss led a delegation of British MPs and peers on a visit to Botswana this month.

Moss has accused Survival of using ‘dirty tactics to discredit Botswana regarding the relocation of the former residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR)’, and has claimed that the organisation relies on "wrong information". The Daily News reports that, ‘Moss said he did not believe there was any other alternative policy than the one government had adopted.’

Gana Bushman Solomon Phetolo, who met with the parliamentarians, said on Wednesday "what the MPs are saying is wrong. Survival International is telling the truth, and what they say comes from us. We Bushmen just want to be allowed to live on our land, and we want the government to stop harassing us". In addition to Malcolm Moss, the delegation included Lord Steel (Liberal Democrat), James Brokenshire (Conservative), John Mann (Labour), Vera Baird (Labour) and Lord Chidgey (Liberal Democrat). They met briefly with evicted Bushmen in New Xade resettlement camp outside the CKGR.

The parliamentarians are members of the all-party parliamentary group on Botswana, set up by Hill & Knowlton, the multinational PR firm hired by the Botswana government and diamond giant De Beers to counter Survival’s campaign. According to the British NGO, previous delegations of MPs who have visited New Xade allegedly had their trips paid for by De Beers, the company looking for diamonds on the Bushmen’s ancestral land.